Roger Mooney makes the case that it is time for Matt Joyce to be an everyday player. This despite just five career starts and 51 career at bats against lefties.

When Andrew Friedman was asked about possibility of Joyce being in the lineup most days, he said:

“Part of me is intrigued with the idea of him getting a lot of at-bats and seeing what that means. But, at the same time, we’re going to go through all the different options and how things fit, and figure out how to put the best 13-position player team that we can.”

We wish World B. Friedman would have stopped after the first statement, because this is exactly what we are hoping for from the 2011 Rays. If this is indeed a reloading year (we refuse to call it “rebuilding” because we think they will be back in 2012), then the Rays need to figure out if some of the younger guys can be everyday players. Guys like Joyce, Reid Brignac and John Jaso.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

Carl Crawford took out a half-page ad (times are tough) in the St. Pete Times, thanking Tampa Bay. After being called out by by us and a local beat writer, the timing of the ad is curious. [The Heater]

Rays Prospects has updated stats for all the Rays prospects playing in the winter leagues. [Rays Prospects]

Rays Prospects also has starting pitcher rotation projections for each of the Rays minor league affiliates. [Rays Prospects]

Triple-A manager Charlie Montoyo calls him “Mini Zobrist,” but in 2011 Elliot Johnson will be in the big leagues as the Rays utility player. [TampaBay.com]

Well the cry babies got their wish and Carl took out an ad thanking them (for what?).... but now its not BIG enough....
Does anyone see a pattern here?
Look at it this way Pena stole more $ making $10 mil than CC made at $12 mil.... so he had more money to spend on newspaper ads!
Anyway.... they could have fed 500 starving kids in Tampa for what they spent thanking their grateful fans!

I think it's less about the size and what not, and more about the shock of how CC is leaving. We spent years rallying behind him, up in arms that he didn't get the accolades that he so deserved. We made this team about him, and the fans totally supported that. We supported his decision to leave and get his well-earned payday. His last days as a Ray were spent with much better reception than players like Aki, Baldelli, and Pena. So to then hear him publicly state his heart is with a rival, and to have him seem to only acknowledge his time here after getting some criticism for it is definitely unnerving. This is not an attitude that we have seen from him in the past, and we weren't prepared for the cold shoulder. It's a bit disconcerting to see him barely acknowledge a franchise that helped make him who he is as a player and helped him get that big contract. There is something to be said for recognizing where you came from and the fact that he isn't shows a different side of Carl that is a bit unrecognizable.

I have to say, based on the year the Bucs just completed, we have to have some faith in the scouting team for the Rays. Maybe we don't need a bunch of high-paid huge names to make it big. Then again, we seemed to be a little short of big prize with our big names.

Man, those winter league hitting stats are depressing. Especially Leslie Anderson and Elliott Johnson's. OBP below .300 for both of them in a healthy number of plate appearances each. The best hitting guy down there seems to be Stephen Vogt, and he's a 25 year old who's still in high A ball (i.e. not planning on seeing him in a major league uniform ever).

On the plus side, Joel Peralta seems to have absolutely dominated the Dominican. 25/2 K/BB ratio in 17 innings with only 3 earned runs allowed. I'll take anything close to that from him in the Rays pen and be pretty happy.

Just not a fan AT ALL of Marc Topkin. That can be discussed another day another time, but the power and influence he wields has changed the course of this debate, for better or worse. A shame we have to have Marc as the leader of our baseball media.